Thursday morning part 2 :)

Hi Guys! i apologize for not updating last night...i was simply spent....there have been so much going on and so much that we get to see and do, but no words to be able to really explain it all...there are going to be a ton of inside stories and inside jokes....we are all getting very close....but to be able to tell you all what that is like is really hard! i guess you just gotta be here! haha!

our day yesterday was spent on the base doing whatever needed to be done around here. some of us scrubbed the pool deck, some scrubbed the jerk chicken center, some of us were in an assembly line passing rocks all morning, and come were laying a new surface for the walkway and enterances to the base. all in all, it was hot and exhausting! but awesome too! we did have some scrapped knees that required no more than bandaids (so don't worry moms :)) but liv was able to help clean everyone up, and she was in her element....we now have all medical questions going to her...you should see her, she is a high school student in the H.O.E. program, but you would have thought that God just annointed her to be a nurse down here! she told me after the day was done that she was so filled. i love hearing that!

dawn mann and I are sharing a room and i love that it is on the bottom floor....if it was on the top, then no guys could come up....i think i counted just this morning, at least 5 if not more kids that wondered in for one thing or another. we never lock our doors and one morning i walked in to find 3 of our guys raiding the snack drawer :) it took all of about 5 minutes for them all to realize that the stash was in there....thank the Lord my suitcase came, because we would have ran out a long time ago had it not! the missing suitcase was filled with food!!! they are doing a very poor job rationing though....they want to stay up all night on friday adn there is going to be no way if they keep going the way that they are....there will be no sugar to help keep them awake!

with the lack of sleep, we have had to dorkiest kids emerge :) last night i came up from the rock after an amazing talk with derek to find austin A and Logan Y in their "bobo and obo" mode....they refused to talk normal and had a jamaican accent...and they talked in 3rd person....like i said, you just had to be there! logan totally got his second wind, and to look at him, he looked like a walking zombie....his eyes were completely blood shot....but man were they on a role!

as we go into our last work day, i pray that these kids learn how to finish strong...we are tired (have i said that yet?:) but today we get to work on mr. edwards's farm...this is such an experience!! i think that we will get to plant banana tree's for him. this will not be a normal indiana farm. this is a farm on a hill. we will be at an angle almost the whole day. but it is beautiful!

tomorrow we will go to ocho rios and climb the falls and shop at the market...

i can't believe that it is almost over...but this morning i felt God give me such an excitement to get home because of what He wants to do with us there! this is only the beginning for most of these kids...some it will be a middle ground...and maybe a renewed kick start...but whatever stage they are in, i feel confident that God handpicked each and every one of them for a purpose. we are a small army, and i have watched countless times these kids...all of them, lock arms (figuratively), and march forward....together! as parents, i want you all to be prepared for what God is going to be doing in your kids and how that is going to be effecting your family! thank you thank you thank you for sending them and entrusting them to us....i will tell you a million more times over, that seeds have been planted!....i have asked several what they think life is going to be like when they get home....how it's going to be different. i get almost the same initial response of i just don't know....but i feel strongly and i have told them this, that this is just the starting point....when we get home...the mission continues! HE is doing mighty and great things and i believe that He handpicked each of the kids to go becaues HE knew that they would say yes! so our prayer focus is still on this trip, but be ready to switch it to "bring to fruit" the seeds that are there! we love you all....sadly, i don't think any of the kids miss you though :) hahah!! i am sure that they do, but we are having a blast....

oh...one funny story...after going to the soccer game last night, we got pulled over for a routine traffic stop...the cops stand on the road and point for the vehicles to pull over...anyhow...all the kids saw this and i turned to them and asked if they all had their passports? you should have seen their faces!!! i told them that they needed their passports whereever we went and i that i had told them all this! (in reality, we took all their passports on the first day and locked them up!) somehow...they didn't remember this little detail, because they were freakin out! it was hilarious!

o.k. that's all! have an awesome day and pray hard!

Joshua 1:9